BritAngel

This is why draft pitching and more pitching to always have that depth in the minors.
It’s easier to find position player depth from other teams, plus they don’t nearly as much break down as pitchers do.

They play in the Bronx 5/4-5/6 and at the Latrine 8/3-8/4. Security will probably be an issue for the Stros when they play in LA.

We’re only 2.5% into the season, but I thought it might be a cool thing to do one of these after each series for all to give their thoughts on the just concluded series.
Positives:
3/4 of the starters gave up just 7 earned runs between them, and averaged 5 2/3 innings.
The bullpen pitched well except for the 9th inning hiccup on Friday.
The defense was very good, except for a case of the Knoblauchs last night.
Walsh hammered the ball in his two starts.   Move over Albert, here comes Jared.
JUp is a different player from the past two seasons.   Thank you, good health.
They got solid offense from the catcher’s spot, continuing the 2020 emergence.
They took 3 out of 4 from a seriously good hitting/pitching team.
Negatives:
Just two really, one was being the case of the Knoblauchs last night.
The other is, of course, Heaney’s continued meltdowns after sailing along.

This is pretty much where I come down on the situation, too. Baffles me to see some of the responses in this thread.  People make career and life decisions for all sorts of reasons, and just because you don't understand it or wouldn't have done the same thing doesn't mean it wasn't the right move for that person at that time.  
Speaking from personal experience, about 2 years ago, I left a job that most in my field would see as among the most desirable. I was paid very well, had a good bonus, great benefits, access to high-profile movie and TV projects, etc. But I was burned out, wasn't finding joy in it on a day-to-day basis, the stress of it was affecting my health,  and I realized it was time for me to walk away. Some people told me I was crazy for doing so.  They said I'd worked my whole career to get to that point.  
But you know what? 2 years later, I'm in better health (physically and mentally) and I'm much happier,  even though I'm making a fraction of what I made before.  It was absolutely the right decision for ME and those in my life, even if it wouldn't have been for someone else in my circumstances.  That's how I view the Buttrey situation. 

I hope that he just needs a mental break and needs to figure things out, and that it isn't anything more serious than that.
 
But, I'd like to point out that this is why scouting is still such an integral part of the game and will always be a necessary component. So much of scouting is trying to know more than just the physical tools of a player--it's the mental component. One of my real frustrations with the game and the Angels in particular has been the over reliance on analytics and cutting way back on the scouting component. Good scouts know so much more than just the physical potential, they know how they fit in a team's chemistry and their mental component as well. 
 
I hope that Buttrey just needs a couple of days to figure things out and can back to having fun with the game. 

I hope he’s ok. 

AngelsWinology, you need to understand how fans on this site process information. 
1. @mmc Breaks the news
2. Random fans are puzzled and don't know how to feel yet. 
3. @tdawg87 Cracks a joke or says something racist, but not homophobic. 
4. Distraught among the fans. Long rants nobody reads or the typical "fire ________" post. 
5. A dozen or so posts from @Dochalo and @Inside Pitch explaining some of the thought process behind the move. 
6. @Chuckster70 Voices his support.
7. After a full night of sleep fans then are like, "Yeah......hey yeah! We're awesome. Yeah!"
8. And then there's like one or two more pages of commentary. 
------
So to summarize, it's reported, we aren't in favor, then a couple key guys like it, then all of AW is on board with it. Even if it's a terrible move. 
Right Now, we're between steps 7 and 8. 
 

Happy with these acquisitions.
Looks like minasian has boxed clever and played the long game waiting for the fallout from elsewhere and then hoovered up at bargain prices.
Or am I being too complimentary 🤔

Happy with these acquisitions.
Looks like minasian has boxed clever and played the long game waiting for the fallout from elsewhere and then hoovered up at bargain prices.
Or am I being too complimentary 🤔

Happy with these acquisitions.
Looks like minasian has boxed clever and played the long game waiting for the fallout from elsewhere and then hoovered up at bargain prices.
Or am I being too complimentary 🤔

Happy with these acquisitions.
Looks like minasian has boxed clever and played the long game waiting for the fallout from elsewhere and then hoovered up at bargain prices.
Or am I being too complimentary 🤔

There were some very good relievers available that weren't horrendously expensive and they completely passed.  Ultimately, it came down to money.  They stuck to a specific budget like they always do, which is what it is.  The amount spent should get it done but spending more would have helped.   So you're left with super cheap options in RF and at the back of your rotation.  The good news is that we've got some depth in those areas to overcome poor play.  
In the pen we really don't.  It's a hodgepodge of one established guy and the rest isn't even a coin flip really.   In recent years past it wasn't as much of an issue because we likely weren't playoff bound even with a really good pen.  This year, with the division wide open, it stands to be a critical factor in the teams success and will likely determine whether they make the playoffs.  ie, they likely won't because of it.  
There is nothing more frustrating than a bad bullpen.  Losing games late or not giving a really good offense a chance to come back is beyond painful.  Winning games where you have a lead or coming back from couple runs down is one of the most fun things to see in a team.  
I will be astounded if this pen performs anywhere near league avg.   The fact that we're hanging our hats on Mayers who dominated for 30 innings last year yet was a dumpster fire for the rest of his time in MLB is laughable.  And he's our second best arm?  Our setup guy?  Yeesh.  
 

I don't care, but now Im upset about Sorriano.

I'm expecting there to be some interesting moves to address the pen, especially through the first month. 
With AAA being delayed and a surprising amount of healthy MLB-ready SPs, I do think we will see the pen staffed by guys who we'd think should be starters. Also to consider is the fact starters will have their innings ramped up significantly after 2020's weirdness. 
I'm sticking to a theory that we will see most of the guys like Barria, Sandoval, Rodriguez, perhaps even Suarez and Detmers, get quite a few relief appearances, especially early in the year. Would not be surprised if the six-man rotation winds up being more of an eight-man tandem rotation even. Keeps the 'relievers' more stretched out in the 40-50 pitch range, keeps the main starters able to be yanked after 4-5 innings or third time through, and could keep the high-lev arms a little more fresh. They can keep guys like Suarez and Peters stretched out at the alt. site in the event an emergency SP is actually needed, but the pen should have enough depth and length to it that a bullpen game or two shouldn't be too taxing.
Something like...
Bundy Heaney Canning/RP(Sandoval?) Cobb/RP (Rodriguez? Faria? Guerra? Slegers?) Quintana Ohtani/RP (Barria?) Guys like Bundy, Heaney, and Quintana should be strong enough to go 6-7 innings fairly regularly, but guys like Canning, Cobb, and Ohtani will have durability/effectiveness questions. Pair them up with another SP in the pen capable of going 2-3 innings. Keeps everyone on something of a rotation. Could really mess with opposing lineups.
Once AAA gets going, ideally some of the question mark SPs have stabilized (Cobb?) into a true 6-7 IP SP, and perhaps a reliever or two has healed up (Pena, Slegers) or been claimed or pitched well, and the Angels can option one or two of the SP relievers back to the AAA rotation to be stretched out for depth.

Thanks @Chuckster70 but I'd just like to say Pitching! Pitching, pitching, pitching. Could you do the 9 best ranked pitchers? (Then we should at least get one of them even they all choose pitchers). Would be nice to have a selection of young pitchers in the farm to get excited about. Cheers pal.

I would think it depends on what they ultimately view his future as.
I think if they want him to be a SP, they should probably help him start on that path this year and start building him up at the alternate site / AAA.
If they think, though, that his health won't permit him to be a SP, then by all means, I'd deploy him as a reliever now, as the stuff plays well.
I would possibly consider him later in the season in a relief role, if it looks like we're on the verge of making the playoffs, as we could certainly use his stuff in some capacity.  
As for Detmers, while Maddon mentioned him as a possibility, I would certainly like him to be stretched out as a SP and get reps.

I really think we should lock up Bundy to an extension sooner rather than later - he’s only going to get more expensive 

The thing with the narrative that “Eppler was bad at signing pitchers on one year deals” is that it is a very small sample. 
 
You’re talking about 0 for 3. (And a case can be made that Teheran wasn’t so much a “miss” as an “incomplete.” The guy got covid, so he pitched with basically no spring training and then he got about 3 games to prove himself before he was chucked in the trash can.)
Also, the evaluation methods they used to pick Cahill and Harvey were the same ones they used to pick Bundy. 
 
Anyway, the overall “hit rate” on that level of pitcher is probably 25-40 percent, so Eppler was really right in there at 1 for 3 (or 1 for 4 if you count Teheran.)
Without looking it up, I bet the “hit rate” on the higher caliber pitchers, who sign 3-plus-year deals, is probably 60 percent or so (but the misses are much more costly.) Remember that almost all free agents are at an age when they are more likely to get worse than better.
 

There are some really interesting choices facing the Angels this year with a 6 man rotation and Grampa Pujols creating a bit of a roster crunch. So if you were Joe, who would you go with for opening day (incl your choice of starter and order of rotation, and hitting order)? This isn't a guessing game about who you think will be picked, but rather who would you choose if you were the Angels GM.
My Choices
Starters: Quintana (opening day); Bundy; Heaney; Canning; Ohtani; Cobb (Ohtani would be higher but I want to alternate R/L arms)
Line-up: Fletcher (2B); Trout (CF); Ohtani (DH); Rendon (3B); Walsh (1B); Upton (LF); Stassi (C); Lagares (RF); Iglesias (SS)
Bull-Pen: Iglesias (CL); Mayers (Set-up); Claudio (Lefty); Buttrey (6,7); Guerra (6,7); Barria (Long); Sandoval (Long); Pena (Long)
Bench: Barreto; Ward; Suzuki; Fowler (Grampa only gets to play when Ohtani doesn't in my team)
I think that gives a scary line-up with excellent D; a solid rotation; a decent bench; but only a 'meh' bull-pen. So I'd try to trade Barreto for a set-up guy as soon as I could and bring up Rengifo for the bench.
What's your team???

scary bullpen.  not in a good way.  

I blame Jo Adell

With our offense as good as it is, and what should be a fairly solid defense on the whole (especially if we sub Lagares in the late innings to replace Upton), we just need our SP to be above average, not elite.  I think as Minasian was building this team, he was likely looking ot accomplish just that, given his budget limitations - find guys who were undervalued and could perform better than expected, and be good enough to give us 6 serviceable rotation arms at the minimum.
Quintana and Cobb have both looked better than expected in the early going.  If Bundy, Heaney, and Canning can pitch like they did last year, and Ohtani continues to flash the same form he's shown already, then I don't see why this team can't contend with the Astros and A's for the division title.

Personally, I don't think we will see Minasian pursue a very expensive free agent or empty the farm for a top-of-the-rotation SP until we show we are right on the verge of a WS title team, at least not until the farm grows enough and both Pujols and Upton are off the books.
If Ohtani actually does pan out or gets close to it, he will soon cost a significant amount to re-sign.  Fletcher will soon cost quite a bit of money.  If we do re-sign one of Heaney/Bundy, they won't be exorbitant, but will likely command 3+ years at the minimum at 15mil/yr AAV+, depending on how this year goes.
Likely I think we are inclined to see Minasian take one year gambles while he lets the farm develop.  This is the same approach Eppler used, but the talent evaluation is mainly what matters.  If Minasian can be considerably more successful than Eppler at it, or well, just not downright awful at it like Eppler was, this team can be quite a bit better than we were under the Eppler years.

I think we see how the first half of the season goes. If Detmers and Rodriguez pitch well in the minors where them being in the rotation at some point in 2022 is a foregone conclusion then I’d rather make the move for a Sonny Gray.  Prospect cost is much less and he could be the veteran anchor of the staff 

It looks like Canning didn't throw a single spike curveball this outing which was working really well for him his last start. He exclusively threw his slider and fastball this time around. I'm pretty sure he will use his full repertoire in the regular season. He was getting his work in. That is not an excuse for his shit fastball command to the doom and gloomers.